ALLEGANY COUNTY — Investigators charged a Rising Sun-area man with negligent hunting on Tuesday – one day after he shot his nephew during a hunting trip in Western Maryland because he mistook him for a turkey, according to the Maryland Natural Resources Police.

In addition, NRP officers confiscated the Mossberg 835 pump-action, 12-gauge shotgun that the defendant, Tracy James Duvall Sr., 65, fired when he accidentally wounded his nephew, Jason Gene Duvall, 39, shortly before 8 a.m. on Monday in Green Ridge States Forest in Allegany County, police reported.

Candy Thomson, a NRP spokeswoman, said the nephew took the brunt of the shotgun blast in his right hip and groin, while also suffering lesser wounds to his face and chest.

The nephew was transported to Western Maryland Regional Medical Center in Cumberland, where he underwent surgery to have some pellets removed from his body, she added. He was listed in stable condition on Tuesday.

During the hunting outing, Tracy Duvall entered the woods first and began calling turkeys, police said. His nephew later entered the woods and began calling turkeys, too, police added.

“At some point, (the nephew) sat down near a tree. He broke off calling and stood up. At that point, Tracy Duvall, thinking he saw a turkey, fired a single shot from a Mossberg 12-gauge pump-action shotgun from about 121 feet away,” Thomson explained.

The uncle and nephew were able to get out of the woods and call 911, she reported.

Duvall’s trial is scheduled for Dec. 22 in Allegany County District Court, police said. The offense is a “must appear” charge, meaning Duvall cannot mail in a check to the courthouse and concede the case against him, police added.

NRP officers did not arrest Duvall but, instead, issued him a citation. Negligent hunting carries a maximum $1,500 fine for a first offense. A defendant convicted a second time of negligent hunting could be sentenced up to one year in jail and fined up to $4,000.